Gut Bay, Baranof Island
After having sailed south during the night, the National Geographic Sea Lion continued her journey towards Gut Bay during the morning; naturalists lectured about the history of Russian Alaska and about bears. We visited the Kasnyku waterfall, which poured an impressive amount of fresh water into the ocean and made for a very photogenic feature, whereas a lonesome humpback whale entertained us with a series of breaches.
We eventually arrived to Gut Bay, located on the southeastern portion of Baranof Island, and scouted for a good place to spend the afternoon. And what a place it was! Surrounded by very steep mountains and dominated by the 4,500 ft tall Mount Ada, the deep and narrow bay made for a spectacular location. Hikers explored the forests while kayakers enjoyed themselves paddling along the shoreline and Zodiac cruisers delighted themselves watching numerous curious harbor seals. The underwater realm proved to be equally interesting, as Second Mate Chris Rhodes and I were able to witness during our dive; it is very likely that our dive was the very first one that humans have ever made here. Blue and orange widehand hermit crabs, northern ronquils, coonstripe shrimps and tanner crabs were some of the colorful species that we encountered. At the end of the day we all had a smile on our faces after having enjoyed a marvelous day in the wilds of southeast Alaska!
